2d20 For Infinity

When Modiphius announced the Infinity RPG a couple of weeks ago, I finally discovered what I’d been missing.

This post is a shout out for the Infinity RPG. I also aim to point out why it’s well worth checking out the skirmish game too.

And it’s an encouragement to check out Modiphius’ 2d20 System and see why it’s causing this ol’ Gamemaster some excitement!

Grabbing the RPG Quickstart

Although we can’t assume that this file will survive once the full game is released next year, right now you can grab the Infinity RPG Quickstart .PDF for FREE!

Having done so earlier in the week, I was really excited by the quality of production (despite the odd typo and spelling error) and the artwork. More than that, though – it’s an excellent primer to the 2d20 System!

Why have I fallen in love with this game system?

Three things: it’s simple to play; it fuels high-stakes action; it demands meaningful choices from all players.

2d20 = Simple

The simplicity is in the basic dice mechanic: you roll 2d20 and if one or both of the dice score equal to or less than your attribute + skill, you score a success.

Some tasks require one success, but often stuff is harder and you might need as many as five successes. How can you get five successes off 2d20? Lots of ways!

Firstly, you might be improve your skill Focus, not just the level of Expertise: the number you need to roll under is your Expertise, but if you roll under your Focus you score two successes! This means that you need to make deeper choices for your character.

Secondly, you can pay some Heat (tokens the GM will use to make life complicated), gaining 1 extra d20 for each point paid, maximum +3d20. Problem is, if you turn up the Heat then you make life tougher for the whole group.

Thirdly, you can burn an Infinity Point (you start with three) and gain a d20 with the face turned to score a 1. Awesome! But, hey, don’t burn them all at once because Infinity Points have other uses too!

Momentum!

The thing I really love, though, are the rules on Momentum. In short, every success scored over the number needed on a check scores you a point of Momentum. You can use these to do LOADS of things. As time passes, though, you lose one Momentum per turn if you don’t use it.

Examples of Momentum
– Spend one Momentum to perform the task in half the normal time.
– Spend one Momentum to add +1 damage to an attack.
– Spend two Momentum to disarm an opponent.
– Spend one Momentum to give another player +1d20 to a later skill test (max +3d20).

And there are loads more too, especially in combat!

Complications & Heat

Roll a 20, you pick up a Complication: either the GM adds something negative to the positive outcome you’ve just achieved, or they simply gain 2 Heat.

For the GM, though, there are meaningful uses for Heat.

Firstly, everything that Momentum can do for the player, Heat does for the NPCs – no fiddly tracking of Momentum for the GM!

Then there’s interrupting the Initiative at any point to allow an NPC to act – burn one Heat. Or activate a special effect or NPC power. Or invoke a local environmental hazard. Or whatever – make a change, burn some Heat and make it count for the heroes!

And the players will be agonizing over how much of that resource they want to give you!

Each serious challenge or threat generates tension not just from the inherent story value, but also from the resources that everyone manages with just a handful of counters or beads.

Properly Interesting SF

Finally, because I could write all day about how cool the game is, you need to check out the setting and story too – it is properly interesting!

It’s a kind of high-action (from the skirmish game’s need to fight), manga-flavoured, but not-quite-transhuman blend that really caught my eye. There’s depth to the stories that might not have been apparent if you played the tabletop skirmish game.

In short, Humanity is spreading out across colonies and has its own internecine conflicts… but has just come toe-to-toe with the Emergent Intelligence – an alien power that has pitted its Combined Army against the Human Sphere. As the story begins, the Quickstart gives us a scenario introducing the alien Tohaa as potential allies for the losing Human Race.

6 Thoughts on “2d20 For Infinity”

Thanks for the article Che! I’ve been skirting infinity for a while… attracted bu the beautiful minis, the brilliant painters, and its more accessible sci fi architecture. Looks like I’ll have to finally take a break from the Grimdark and have a go at Infinity!

I checked out MC3, and only have one comment: This is what happens when you try to make an RPG a wargame, you get an RPG that feels more like a wargame and less like an RPG. It’s PLAYED like an RPG but doesn’t really FEEL like one. This idea of attribue +skill=target number rolled on 2d20 vs number of successes to BE successful is like playing D&D:
GM: “Okay, you need a 12 to hit AC2”
PC: “I hit!”
GM: “Great! Now roll again to see how successful you were. You need 3 successes, so roll 2-more times and be successful, otherwise you fail.”
PC: “No way! Why am I rolling again? I hit!”
GM: This is a new Idea I’m borrowing from Modiphius’ 2d20 system.”
PC: I hate it. I’m gonna go play GURPS. C-ya!

You should really be rolling all the d20s for a single task in one go, rather than one at a time. It’s a dice pool – the overall result from all the dice collectively considered at once is more important than the individual results on any of the dice (“the task has a difficulty of 3”, “I’ll buy an extra d20” *rolls 3 d20s* “I got four successes overall” “You complete your task, and have a point of Momentum to use on something else”).

What you describe seems akin to the GM “surprising” his players with a system rather than explaining it beforehand, which is just bad GMing, and not a representative example in any way, shape, or form.

Beyond that, whether or not something “feels” like an RPG is massively subjective. Further, given that RPGs evolved from wargames in the first place, mechanical similarities between RPGs and wargames is inevitable (D&D evolved out of Chainmail, which in turn grew out of other wargames of the 70s).

Seriously? Are you still trying to convince me this is “the” system for me, when it’s obvious I have no interest in this clusterfuck of a rule-set? As far as my GMing skills are concerned, don’t judge, NOR patronize me. You are NOT the creator of the genre nor the game, therefore, your advice on what is good or bad GMing is purely subjective. Sure, you may have X-amount of GM experience, but this does NOT make you an expert in the field–and to believe suck is moronic. Please, before you insult your own intelligence further, refrain from insulting someone, (whether intentionally or not) when you have no idea who the other individual is. Have a good day sir, and try not to injure your own pride further than is already is.

Bundle of Holding have one for Infinity RPG right now. It lasts another 18 days. I’m collecting 2d20 games and yet again, your simple explanation of the mechanics helped me to understand what is a new system to me (mind you, everything is a new system to me).